Additionally we see the effects of gender explicitly on sexual health and becoming pregnant in Varga's article "How Gender Roles Influence Sexual and Reproductive Health among South African Adolescents". I found this article especially striking because I do not see the situation in the United States as being all that different. I see sexual encounters and dating with the same gendered expectations and with the exception of women's access to the pill, the most widely used types of birth control are generally up to the men to use.
Interestingly enough after reflecting on that common theme I found an article titled "Engaging Men As Partners in Reproductive Health". According to this article, "Gender influences women's and men's health in fundamental ways, and traditional ideas about gender can place both women's and men's health at risk". Because of this fact the Engender Health organization is seeking to implement sexual health education programs that keep this premise at the fore front of their teaching. They observed a huge chunk missing out of current sex education programs and are seeking to right that wrong. In my opinion this framework allows for real progress to be made in how adolescents negotiate sexually with each other, which very well could lead to better sexual health decision making and better dating practices in general.
I also found this image while looking for something visual to put up and well I feel like I've already rambled enough but how about this for gender roles effecting our notion of pregnancy. Since especially teen men are thought of as nonexistent from their pregnant female partners this image seems just very interesting. Not to mention the idea of teen pregnancy as "disturbing".
Emilia M.
I feel that gender roles play a big part in sexual health and reproduction. The fact that a woman has to carry a baby for 9months can serve as determining factor in whether or not a woman will conceive. Being pregnant can cause several health issues (not to mention the excessive weight gain), which can cause a woman to 2nd guess pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteAlso, knowing that the traditional women's role is to nurture the child can cause un-wed women to prolong reproducing. This is partly due to the fear of becoming a single parent.
Simone McGary
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ReplyDeleteAs I commented in class, while watching the Markai episode I was very relieved to see James upholding his parental responsibility and showing more support that the other teen fathers had. However, I recognize my own fault in thinking this because fathers should be held accountable for their children just as mothers are. It should not be a novelty when a father does what he should do.
ReplyDeleteEven in married couples, when a woman goes out and leaves her kids at home with dad it often said that "Dad is babysitting." He's not babysitting. He is being responsible for his children, as he should be.
Mom may feel a quicker connection with her baby because baby is growing inside of her for nine months, however, there were two people there when the child was conceived, therefore two people should hold responsibility for that child's care.
::Maura B.
I really enjoyed the article "Engaging Men As Partners in Reproductive Health." I felt like it made several good points. The first being that since it takes two parents to make a child, this reasoning should also transfer over to the subject of reproductive health. The second is that we cannot expect these fathers to change if we do not challenge what is considered the norm.
ReplyDeleteSexual health is the responsibility of the partners. In the case of parents, these types of health decisions should be discussed and decided upon as a couple. This is a delicate issue, because a man should not be given the right to decide the reproductive path of a woman just because of their relationship; however, if we do not involve men early on in the decision process and do not respect their opinions, how can they respect the opinions of the woman? This ties in with the fact that we cannot expect men to challenge traditional gender roles if we as women to not also challenge these roles.
Gendering chores and tasks only hurts the person who is going to carry them out. Branding something as women's work just adds a negative connotation to a job that was in the past, traditionally, done by a female. It's 2011! We should expect the father of our child to step up to the plate, take care of his child because it is his child, his responsibility, not to be scared of parenting because in the past it has been a job for the mother.
-Claire L.